This invention relates to a resin composition. In a particular aspect, this invention relates to an alkyd resin composition having improved flexibility.
Alkyd resins, i.e. the reaction product of a polyol with a mixture of a polybasic acid and a monobasic acid, are widely used in baked coatings. The resins so used are only partially polymerized, dissolved in a suitable solvent, a catalyst is added and whatever pigmentation is desired and then applied to the article to be coated. The article is then heated or baked at an elevated temperature to cure the resin, i.e. to complete the polymerization. Alkyd resins are very successful in coatings of this type. If the amount of monobasic acid, e.g. a fatty acid, is large, the coating is very flexible, but unduly soft and easily scratched. However, if the amount of monobasic acid is relatively small, the resin suffers from the disadvantage of being very hard and lacking flexibility. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the flexibility of alkyd resin coatings without undue loss of hardness of such coatings.